PAM, 

/.rr.ic* 


PROGRESS  IN  AFRICA. 


-is 


WASHINGTON  CITY, 

POLONIZATION  ^UILDING,  45O  PENNSYLVANIA  ^VENUE, 

1889 


PROGRESS  IN  AFRICA. 


NINTH  ANNUAL  PAPER 


The  powerful  interest  which  has  been  awakened  in  Africa  during 
the  last  decade,  and  which  has  turned  to  her  the  attention  and  desires 
of  the  whole  civilized  world,  remains  undiminished  and  unchanged. 
The  eagerness  with  which  the  great  Powers  reach  forth  to  possess 
themselves  of  her  territory  continues:  exploration  and  commercial  en¬ 
terprise  were  never  more  active  ;  the  building  of  railroads  and  the 
development  of  her  natural  resources  go  on  steadily,  and  Christianity 
and  civilization  are  pressing  forward. 

GOVERNMENTAL  ANNEXATION. 

Another  State  has  been  added  to  the  nations  controlling  the  des¬ 
tinies  of  the  “  Dark  Continent.”  It  is  to  be  known  as  “  The  British 
East  African  Company,”  and  to  it  has  been  granted  by  Great  Britain 
full  powrnr  to  levy  customs  and  taxes,  and  to  maintain  an  armed  force 
and  assert  authority  throughout  a  vast  area.  The  exact  delimitation 
of  the  territory  of  the  new  State  has  not  been  fixed,  but,  generally 
speaking,  it  extends  from  a  point  northward  of  the  region  claimed  by 
the  German  East  African  Society  near  Zanzibar,  to  the  Somali 
country  and  westwards  to  lake  Albert  Nyanza.  Within  this  wide 
range  is  much  of  the  finest  land  in  Central  Africa,  and  in  many  places 
it  is  filled  with  industrious  populations.  Around  the  shores  of  the 
Victoria  Nyanza  alone  there  are  said  to  be  12,000,000  people,  whilst 
the  other  central  lakes  are  also  surrounded  by  numerous  tribes. 
The  affairs  of  the  New  State  are  to  be  managed  by  the  East  African 
Company,  composed  of  commercial  and  philanthropic  gentlemen 
in  London,  but  these  executive  acts  will  be  subject  to  revision  and 
control  by  the  British  Colonial  or  Foreign  office. 

*  Thanks  are  cordially  tendered  to  the  M  issionr  ry  Htrald  of  Rosttn:  Chu  chat 
Hone  and  Abroad  of  Philadelphia;  Interior  of  Chicago;  AJrican  'limes  of  Gordon,  and 
X’  A friquc  of  Geneva,  for  matter  freely  used  in  this  paper. 


2 


GOVERNMENTAL  ANNEXATION. 


Great  Britain  has  long  owned  territory  within  the  confines  of  the 
Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  and  has  exercised  protectorate  rights  over  a  large 
portion  of  that  part.  In  consequence  of  an  arrangement  with  Zanzibar, 
the  German  Society  already  mentioned  were  enabled  to  take  over  the 
government  of  some  123,000  square  miles,  consisting  of  Usagora  and 
Wituland,  with  a  considerable  extent  of  seaboard.  This  new  territory  is 
under  the  protectorate  of  the  Geman  Empire,  and  the  Society  to 
whom  it  has  delegated  authority  over  this  district  have  full  power  to 
carry  on  the  government. 

A  treaty  of  peace  and  friendship  has  been  concluded  between 
England  and  Lobengula,  king  of  the  Matabele,  whose  countrylies  west 
of  Umzila’s.  Lobengula  pledges  himself  to  make  every  effort  for  a 
strict  observance  of  the  treaty,  to  make  no  treaty  with  any  foreign 
Power,  and  to  cede  no  land  without  first  obtaining  the  sanction  of 
the  British  high  commissioner  for  Africa.  At  his  request  the  South 
African  Republic  has  appointed  a  consul  to  reside  in  the  Matabele 
country.  Travelers  from  the  Republic,  whatever  their  object,  must 
get  a  permit  from  their  government  and  send  their  names  to  the 
consul  at  Lobengula’s  capital.  The  African  king  asks  these  things 
in  order  to  prevent  the  invasion  of  adventurers,  and  to  advertise 
those  who  come  without  the  required  permit  that  they  do  so  at  their 
own  risk.  Differences  which  may  arise,  whether  with  the  natives  or 
with  others  from  the  Republic,  are  to  be  brought  before  the  consul. 

In  South  Africa  the  two  countries  called  the  “  South  African 
Republic,”  formerly  the  “  Transvaal,”  and  the  “  New  Republic”  have 
negotiated  a  treaty  by  the  terms  of  which  they  form  themselves  into 
one  State.  The  New  Republic  joins  itself  to  the  South  African  Re¬ 
public  and  its  territory  becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  latter.  It  is  to 
be  incorporated  under  the  name  of  the  District  of  Vryheid,  and  its 
representatives  at  the  Volksraad  will  be  appointed  as  they  are  in  the 
districts  of  the  Transvaal.  This  “  New  Republic”  is  a  section  of  about 
sixteen  hundred  square  miles  between  Natal,  the  Transvaal  and  St. 
Lucia  Bay. 

The  British  government  has  “annexed”  that  part  of  the  Gold 
Coast  which  lies  between  Cape  Coast  Castle  and  the  delta  of  the  Ni¬ 
ger.  It  will  be  governed  as  a  Crown  colony,  with  its  own  executive 
and  chief.  The  region  is  washed  by  the  waters  of  the  Bight  of  Benin, 
and  is  intersected  by  several  streams,  which  give  access  to  the  palm 
oil  districts.  These  are  not  limited  to  the  immediately  adjacent  states 
of  Dahomey  and  Yoruba,  but  from  the  far  interior  the  one  article  of 
export  is  brought  down  to  the  native  intermediaries  who  traffic  di¬ 
rect  with  the  foreign  merchants.  The  whole  district  has  hitherto  been 


GOVERNMENTAL  ANNEXATION. 


3 


under  the  protectorate  of  England,  exercised  through  the  consular 
authorities  of  Cape  Coast  Castle. 

In  consequence  of  the  amount  of  sickness  and  consequent  invalid- 
ings  from  the  ships  stationed  on  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  the  British 
Board  of  Admiralty  has  decided  upon  employing  a  new  type  of  ship 
in  those  latitudes.  The  new  vessels  must  be  of  light  draught  to 
navigate  the  tortuous  courses  of  the  coast  rivers,  and  at  the  same  time 
possess  considerable  speed. 

The  rapidity  with  which  France  has  lately  been  acquiring  terri¬ 
tory  in  the  northwest  portion  of  Central  Africa  is,  perhaps,  not  gener¬ 
ally  appreciated.  As  the  result  of  treaties  and  of  recent  little 
“military  operations,”  France  is  now  either  suzerain  or  “protector” 
of  the  territories  lying  between  the  Senegal  river,  the  Niger,  and  Sier¬ 
ra  Leone,  with  the  exception  of  the  lower  valleys  of  the  Gambia  and 
the  Rio  Grande,  which  belong  to  England  and  to  Portugal  respective¬ 
ly.  French  desire  for  territory  in  this  portion  of  Africa  dates  from 
several  years  ago,  when  M.  Duponchel,  a  daring  engineer,  proposed 
that  a  railway  should  be  constructed  across  the  Sahara  from  Algeria 
to  Timbuctoo.  An  expedition  was  dispatched  to  survey  the  route  ; 
but  as  it  ended  in  the  massacre  of  some  of  his  party,  it  was  understood 
that  the  time  for  the  trans-Saharan  railway  had  not  yet  come.  At¬ 
tention  was  then  turned  to  the  possibility  of  attaining  the  French 
ideal  by  way  of  the  region  of  the  Senegal ;  and  Colonel  Gallieni  was 
sent  thither  at  the  head  of  a  small  expedition,  charged  with  the  task 
of  increasing  French  influence  and  adding  to  French  territory.  One 
of  the  most  formidable  adversaries  with  whom  he  had  to  deal  was  the 
marabout  Mabmadou  Lamine,  who  for  some  time  gave  much  trouble ; 
but  the  latest  news  from  the  expedition  is  that  the  marabout  has  been 
killed  and  his  men  dispersed,  The  result  of  Colonel  Gallieni’s  cam¬ 
paign — a  campaign  which  has  been  conducted  very  quietly — is  that 
the  extent  of  territory  under  French  protectorate  has  been  doubled, 
It  is  expected  that  Gallic  influence  will  shortly  be  increased  in  the 
Fonta  Djallon,  a  State  lying  between  the  Gambia  and  the  coast  of 
Guinea,  which  has  for  some  years  been  under  the  more  or  less  nomi¬ 
nal  protectorate  of  France.  The  success  of  a  mission  sent  to  that 
State  has  already  assured  an  increase  of  trade  to  the  French  establish¬ 
ments  on  the  Upper  Niger.  Colonel  Gallieni  has  built  a  fort  at  Sigu- 
iri,  the  confluent  of  the  Niger  and  the  Tenkisso,  in  the  heart  of  the 
Soudanese  gold  country.  It  has  been  placed  in  direct  telegraphic  com¬ 
munication  with  Paris,  and  a  railway  towards  the  coast  is  in  course  of 
construction.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  France  will  now  be  con¬ 
tent  to  abandon  the  dream  of  extending  her  dominion  from  the  Niger 


4 


GOVERNMENTAL  ANNEXATION. 


to  the  Mediterranean.  The  Sahara  has  lost  much  of  its  terror  and  its 
mystery ;  and  by  means  of  a  series  of  artesian  wells  it  may  be  possible 
to  overcome  all  difficulties  connected  with  the  supply  of  water,  and 
to  construct  a  line  of  railway  across  the  desert  from  the  Senegal  or 
the  Niger  to  Algiers. 

An  arrangement  has  been  concluded  at  Berlin  between  Germany 
and  France  for  the  introduction  of  a  uniform  customs  system  in  their 
respective  possessions  on  the  slave  coast.  By  the  terms  of  this  ar¬ 
rangement  the  German  and  French  possessions  in  that  region  are  to 
form  one  common  customs  territory,  and  spirituous  liquors,  tobacco, 
gunpowder  and  rifles  are  to  be  subjected  to  import  duties  at  the  fol¬ 
lowing  rates  : — Gin  having  an  alcoholic  strength  of  40  per  cent.  (T ral¬ 
lies’s  scale)  3-84d.,  up  to  60  per  cent.  5  76d.,  and  above  60  per  cent. 
9.6od.  Rum,  according  to  the  same  scale,  o  19b  ,  1  28d  ,  and  o.48d. 
respectively.  Gunpowder  per  100  pounds  (English  weight),  2s.  6d. 
Tobacco,  per  kilogramme,  ).2od.;  rifles,  6d.  each.  The  payments 
may  be  made  in  German,  English  or  French  currency.  Beyond  these 
duties  notransit  01  internal  customs  are  to  be  levied,  so  that  goods  for 
which  duty  has  been  paid  on  the  territory  of  the  one  nation  may  be 
imported  into  the  territory  of  the  other  without  a  fresh  duty  being 
charged.  Any  articles  not  enumerated  above  are  duty-f  ee.  The  ar¬ 
rangement  has  been  concluded  for  a  period  of  two  years  from  August 
1,  simultaneously  in  the  German  and  French  territories.  It  is  ex¬ 
plained  that  the  rules  have  been  fixed  for  the  present  at  a  low  figure 
in  order  not  to  weigh  too  heavily  upon  those  trades  which  are  still  in 
their  infancy.  A  proposal  made  by  Germany  to  impose  a  higher  duty 
on  liquors  was  rejected  by  France. 

An  expedition  of  land  and  sea  forces  has  taken  military  occupa¬ 
tion  in  the  name  of  the  King  of  Portugal  of  a  tract  of  land  north  of 
Loando  and  Anibriz,  in  the  neighborhood  of  p.rallel  7  degrees  south, 
and  known  as  Ambrizette.  The  Movement  Geographique  reports  that 
the  queen  of  the  Amatonga  has  recognized  the  sovereignty  of  Portu¬ 
gal  over  the  territory  claimed  by  the  latter,  so  that  the  rights  of  Por¬ 
tugal  are  thus  admitted  to  the  whole  bay  of  Lorenzo  Marques. 

The  Italian  campaign  in  Abyssinia  promises  soon  to  come  to  a  sat¬ 
isfactory  ending,  if,  indeed,  it  has  not  already  done  so.  For  some  weeks 
fighting  has  been  in  progress,  and  though  it  has  been  of  a  guerilla  sort 
the  general  result  has  been  to  convince  the  Abyssinians  of  the  futility 
of  further  opposition.  The  complete  collapse  of  the  expedition,  how¬ 
ever,  is  doubtless  due  to  the  paucity  of  supplies,  especially  of  water, 
and  the  consequent  demoralization  in  camp,  famine  and  desertion  be¬ 
ing  potent  factors  in  the  dissipation  of  a  barbarian  host.  In  any  event 


EXPLORATIONS. 


O 


the  King  has  been  compelled  to  negotiate  for  peace,  and  although  he 
has  thus  far  refused  the  conditions  imposed  by  the  Italians,  it  is  prob¬ 
able  that  the  demoralization  of  his  forces  will  induce  him  finally  to 
accept  them.  These  codiiions  are  an  acknowledgment  of  the  Italian 
coast  occupation,  apology  for  the  attack  at  Sahati  and  a  treaty  of  am¬ 
ity  and  commerce.  The  whole  affair  thus  ends  without  a  pitched 
battle  and  without  unnecessary  humiliation  to  Abyssinia,  to  which,  it 
is  said,  Italy  may  grant  freedom  of  transit  for  her  trade  through  Mas- 
sowah  to  the  sea,  in  return  for  the  reparation  demanded.  Should 
this  be  done,  both  belligerents  may  be  congratulated  on  the  conclu¬ 
sion  of  peace,  the  Abyssinian  monarchy  preserving  its  organization, 
certain  to  be  broken  by  an  Italian  invasion,  and  Italy  left  free  to  re¬ 
call  a  force  the  absence  of  which  might  seriously  cripple  it  as  a  mili¬ 
tary  power. 

After  what  The  London  Trnes  calls  the  “  scramble  for  Africa,” 
which  has  been  going  on  for  years,  only  about  four  and  one-half  mil¬ 
lions  of  the  eleven  millions  of  square  miles  in  Africa  remain  unat¬ 
tached  to  some  European  power.  Of  these  unattached  portions  more 
than  half  lie  within  the  desert  of  Sahara.  France  has  about  700,000 
square  miles;  Germany  740,000  square  miles,  to  which  should  be  ad¬ 
ded,  if  various  disputed  claims  were  admitted,  another  200,000.  Eng¬ 
land’s  possessions  and  “  sphere  of  influence,”  not  including  Egypt,  are 
set  down  at  about  1,  000,000  square  miles. 

EXPLORATIONS. 

The  Movement  Geos/raphique  contains  an  account  of  explorations 
on  the  Ubangi  (or  Mobangi)  river,  the  northern  affluent  of  the  Con¬ 
go,  made  by  two  Belgian  officers,  Captain  Van  Gele  and  Lieutenant 
Lienert.  The  steamer  of  these  Belgians,  the  En  Avan/,  was  capable 
of  being  taken  to  pieces  and  carried  overland.  Leaving  Equator 
station  on  the  Congo,  the  explorers  passed,  after  entering  the  Uban¬ 
gi,  six  rapids,  between  which  were  navigable  stretches  of  the  river. 
At  the  last  of  these  rapids  the  river  is  three  thousand  feet  wide  with 
an  average  depth  of  eighteen  feet.  The  country  is  spoken  of  as  both 
fertile  and  picturesque.  The  inhabitants  wrere  kindly  disposed  until 
the  travelers  reached  Bangasso,  at  which  point  the  natives  became 
hostile.  The  explorers  lost  two  of  their  company  in  an  attack,  and 
later  they  wrere  assaulted  both  by  land  and  by  water,  having  reached 
a  point  a  little  short  of  twenty-two  degrees  east  longitude,  which  is 
said  to  be  within  one  degree  of  the  place  reached  by  junker  upon  the 
Welle  river.  Here  the  travelers  were  driven  back  by  the  difficulties 
which  met  them,  especially  the  hostility  of  the  natives.  It  seemed  a 


6 


EXPLORATIONS. 


pity  that  they  were  not  able  to  traverse  this  short  distance  nec¬ 
essary  to  settle  the  problem  relating  to  the  Ubangi  and  the  Welle 
rivers,  although  it  may  now  be  regarded  as  practically  solved. 

Only  meagre  accounts  have  yet  come  to  hand  of  the  complete 
ascent  of  Kilimanjaro,  the  loftiest  peak  in  Africa,  by  Dr.  A.  Meyer,  of 
Leipsig,  but  there  is  no  question  of  the  important  achievement.  This 
grand  mountain  was  discovered  by  the  missionary  Rebmann,  in  1848, 
and  in  the  following  year  his  colleague,  Kraf,  discovered  its  snow- 
c  )vered  companion,  Kenia  In  1862  Van  der  Decken  attempted  to 
ascend  Kilimanjaro,  but  succeeded  only  in  reaching  a  height  of  14,000 
feet.  In  1871  Rev.  Charles  New  ascended  as  far  as  the  snow  line, 
and  in  1884  Mr.  H  H.  Johnston  reached  a  height  of  16,000  feet.  Dr. 
Meyer  took  six  days  to  reach  the  summit  of  the  crater  of  Kibo  On 
the  first  day  he  reached  the  forest  limit,  on  the  second  Johnston's 
camp,  on  the  third,  passing  over  extensive  grass  meadows,  he  attain¬ 
ed  the  snow  line;  and  here,  his  native  companions  deserted  him. 
On  the  fourth  day,  through  broken  up  blocks  of  lava,  Dr.  Meyer 
reached  the  foot  of  the  crater,  and  the  edge  of  the  crater  itself  on  the 
fifth  day.  This  he  found  to  be  thickly  glaciated,  as  also  the  region 
which  lies  between  Kibo,  and  its  lower  companion  summit,  Kimawezi. 
The  sixth  day  Dr.  Meyer  spent  in  taking  photographs  and  making 
collections  around  Kibo,  and  he  spent  several  days  lower  down  at  the 
snow  limit  fora  similar  purpose.  He  estimates  the  height  of  the  Ki¬ 
bo  summit  at  close  on  20,000  feet,  considerably  higher  than  the  esti¬ 
mates  of  Mr.  Johnston 

Dr.  Casalis,  from  among  the  Bassutos,  writes  to  his  father,  de¬ 
scribing  a  visit  to  a  remarkable  waterfall  :  “  The  river  has  cut  itself  a 
bed  300  feet  lower  than  the  rest  of  the  plateau,  before  arriving  at  a 
narrow  gorge  surrounded  by  frightful  precipices,  and  there  makes  a 
perpendicular  leap  of  620  feet.  I  do  not  feel  myself  capable  of  de¬ 
scribing  this  wonder  of  nature.  I  have  seen  Niagara;  I  have  visited 
the  Staubbach,  the  Reichenbach,  the  Glessbach,  etc.,  and  nevertheless 
I  have  found  the  Maletsunyane  more  overpowering  stdl.  The  gorges 
are  something  extraordinary,  rising  perpendicular  almost  900  feet, 
like  a  titanic  wall  of  a  reddish  granite  veined  with  white  quartz.  Here 
again  rises  a  tower  of  more  than  5,600  feet  ” 

Herr  Gottlob  Adolf  Krause  has  returned  from  his  travels  in  Af¬ 
rica,  which  have  lasted  two  years,  during  which  time  he  explored 
districts  hitherto  unvisited  by  Europeans.  He  brought  home 
with  him  a  new  fever  remedy  which  he  declares  to  have  proved  effi¬ 
cacious  when  quinine  failed.  Dr.  Zintgraff,  the  African  traveler,  is 
at  lake  Elephant,  experimenting  w  th  the  planting  of  tobacco  and 


STANLEY  AND  EMIN. 


7 


rice  (from  Monrovia),  and  making  excursions  for  weeks  at  a  time  to 
the  surrounding  districts.  The  departure  from  the  Cameroons  to 
lake  Elephant  was  in  two  parties.  One  of  these,  under  Lieut.  Zeu- 
ner,  boated  up  the  Mungo  in  a  large  Cameroon  canoe  with  thirty 
rowers  ;  the  other,  under  Dr.  Zintgraff,  marched  from  Rio  del  Key, 
otherwise  Mene  river,  in  a  north-easterly  direction  as  far  as  the  wa¬ 
terfalls  near  Akumbi  Naene,  which  are  125  metres  broad  and  twenty- 
five  metres  in  height,  and  the  small  falls  near  Dianga,  through  a  dis¬ 
trict  which  has  already  been  partially  explored  by  the  Swedish  trav¬ 
elers,  Kurtson  and  Vaidau.  The  army  of  African  travelers  has  been 
increased  by  the  accession  of  Dr.  Gustav  Mangold,  a  youthful  savant 
of  Kiel.  Dr.  Mangold  was  born  in  Sommerda,  and  studied  in  Ber¬ 
lin,  Munich,  and  Kiel.  He  will  entertain  relations  with  the  East  Af¬ 
rican  Society  but,  being  a  man  of  means,  will  conduct  his  expedi¬ 
tions  largely  at  his  own  expense.  Captain  Becker  has  started  from 
Brussels  for  the  Congo,  to  take  possession  of  and  explore  the  un¬ 
known  northern  and  eastern  regions  of  the  Congo  State.  The  Vos- 
sische  Zeitung ,  referring  to  the  intended  exploration  of  the  Togo  ter¬ 
ritory,  in  West  Africa,  by  the  German  Government,  states  that  two 
expeditions  are  to  be  despatched  thither,  one  under  the  command  of 
Dr.  Wolff,  a  medical  officer  in  the  Saxon  Army,  and  another  under 
the  direction  of  Lieutenant  von  Francis.  The  two  expeditions  will 
carry  on  their  researches  independently  of  each  other. 

STANLEY  AND  EMIN. 

Wadelai,  the  stronghold  and  seat  of  government  of  Emin  Bey,  is  at 
the  present  time  the  center  around  which  the  chief  interest  in  equatori¬ 
al  Africa  revolves.  Till  quite  recently  Emin  was  unknown  to  fame, 
although  since  1878,  when  he  was  appointed  to  his  present  post  by 
General  Gordon,  he  has  held  the  key  of  the  slave  district  of  Lfpper 
Egypt  with  signal  success  and  ability.  Only  a  few  scientists  and  of¬ 
ficials,  however,  knew  anything  of  the  details  of  the  desperate  and 
deadly  struggle  for  liberty  and  civilization  which  he  has  carried  on 
single  handed  as  Gordon’s  heir,  in  the  very  heart  of  African  barbar¬ 
ism,  since  the  fall  of  Khartoum  and  the  tragic  death  of  his  illustrious 
friend  and  patron.  Public  attention  was  first  drawn  to  Emin  and  his 
splendid  efforts  in  the  cause  of  humanity  among  the  Lake  tribes  of 
the  “  Dark  Continent  ”  by  the  dispatch  of  the  relief  expedition  in 
February,  1887,  under  Mr.  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who,  a  few  days  before 
he  left  England,  thus  described  his  mission  in  a  farewell  speech  at  the 
Mansion  Llouse  :  “  I  am  preparing  a  new  expedition  into  the  center 

of  Africa  for  the  relief  of  an  Egyptian  official  who  is  at  present  in 


THE  COM  JO. 


8 

somewhat  straitened  circumstances,  and  environed  by  breadths  of 
unknown  territories,  populated  by  savage  tribes.  I  go  to  relieve  an 
officer  who  may  be  called  the  last  white  chief  of  the  Soudan.  Years 
ago  Gordon  sent  him  and  his  officers  and  their  families  up  towards 
the  sources  of  the  Nile,  and  then  came  that  terrible  catastrophe  which 
cleared  out  the  heart  of  the  Soudan,  and  wiped  out  all  traces  of  civil¬ 
ization,  and  barred  the  way  to  return.  His  ammunition  was  spent, 
and  between  himself  and  the  sea  on  either  hand  there  were  hosts  of 
savages.  We  propose  crossing  the  mainland,  striking  inland,  and  we 
shall  not  return  till  we  have  reached  Emin,  or  perished  in  the  at¬ 
tempt.” 

Trying  to  find  Emin,  Mr.  Stanley  ascended  the  Congo  and  the  Aruwi- 
mi,  one  of  its  branches.  Disinterested  and  competent  judges  believe 
that  between  the  headwaters  of  the  Aruwimi  and  Wadelai,  his  object¬ 
ive  point,  just  north  of  lake  Victoria  Nvanza,  he  found  his  way 
blocked,  and  was  compelled  to  make  a  wide  detour  to  the  west,  from 
which  to  move  eastward  by  a  more  northerly  route.  The  possibility, 
is  that  this  is  true.  If  it  is,  there  has  not  been  sufficient  time 
to  hear  from  him.  It  is  the  expectation  of  many  distinguished 
African  explorers  that  the  intrepid  Stanley  will  yet  march  from 
Wadelai,  Emin’s  center  of  power,  south-easterly  to  the  eastern 
coast,  strengthen  British  prestige  and  possessions,  and  perhaps 
establish  a  New  African  Free  State  under  British  protection. 
With  this  hopeful  view  of  the  African  situation,  as  it  now 
is,  we  must  wait  patiently  until  we  have  something  besides  mere 
conjecture. 

The  death  is  announced  of  Major  Bartelott,  whom  Mr.  Stanley 
left  as  representative  at  the  camp  on  the  Aruwimi.  Bartelott  had  or- 
i.  mized  an  expedition  for  the  purpose  of  following  the  track  of  Mr. 
Stanley,  to  learn,  if  possible  what  had  become  of  him.  All  that  is 
now  known  is  that  Bartelott  was  killed  by  some  of  his  own  party. 
There  are  rumors  that  he  was  of  an  imperious  disposition  and  that 
he  had  never  had  the  confidence  and  affection  of  his  men.  Mr. 
Stanley,  if  alive,  is  now  alone  in  the  great  Continent.  None  of  the 
expeditions  organized  or  proposed  for  his  relief  can  probably  reach 
him  in  season  to  do  him  any  good. 


THE  CONGO. 

The  officers  of  the  Congo  Free  State  are  continuing  their  explor¬ 
ations  of  the  Upper  Valley,  and  find  that  the  products  of  the  country 
are  rich  and  varied  beyond  the  highest  expectation.  It  is  said  to 


THE  CONGO. 


6 


have  been  settled  beyond  a  doubt  that  the  Mobangi  is  the  lower  course 
of  the  river  Welle,  discovered  by  Dr.  Schweinfurth  ;  and  so  a  large 
part  of  the  Soudan  comes  into  the  valley  of  the  Congo,  and  will  find 
the  natural  outlet  for  its  products  through  that  river.  The  engineers 
who  are  surveying  the  route  for  the  railroad  past  the  Livingstone  Falls 
toLukunga  river,  report  that  it  is  not  only  possible,  but  easy.  The  road 
will  run  some  distance  south  of  the  river  Congo.  The  construction  of  a 
railroad  will  mark  a  new  era  in  the  development  of  Central  Africa. 
Fleets  of  steamers  can  then  find  employment  on  the  Upper  Con¬ 
go  and  its  branches  in  bringing  to  Stanley  Pool  the  rubber,  gums, 
spices,  ivory,  and  agricultural  products  of  the  valley  which  are  want¬ 
ed  by  the  civilized  world.  The  railroad  also  will  bean  important  fac¬ 
tor  in  commerce,  because  it  will  bring  to  foreign  markets  large  sup¬ 
plies  of  several  articles  which  are  now  obtainable  only  in  limited 
quantities. 

It  is  officially  announced  that  the  forces  of  the  Congo  Free  State 
have  re-captured  the  Stanley  Falls  station.  It  is  two  years  since  this 
station  on  the  Congo  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Arabs.  It  is  an  im¬ 
portant  point,  1,400  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  340  above 
Stanlev  Pool.  Mr.  Stanley  established  it  in  1883  on  an  island  in  the 
river  just  below  the  falls. 

The  news  of  the  death  of  the  Governor  of  the  Congo  State  has 
caused  much  regret,  as  also  the  report  of  the  death  of  Lieutenant 
Charles  Wallomont,  and  of  Captain  Lievin  Van  de  Velde,  by  fever  at 
Leopoldville.  He  was  about  to  start  for  the  Aruwimi.  Capt  Van  de 
V elde  was  Stanley’s  principal  assistant  on  his  first  exploration.  He  him¬ 
self  explored  the  Kiulu-Niadibasin,  founded  the  station  of  Manyango, 
and  commanded  in  Vivi.  As  secretary  of  the  President  of  the  Congo, 
he  took  part  in  the  Berlin  Congo  Conference,  and  went  to  Africa  again 
in  1885  to  fix  the  line  of  the  Congo  railway  between  Vivi  and  Issan- 
guila. 

M.  janssen  has  been  appointed  Governor  of  the  Congo  State.  In 
future  the  post  will  be  held  by  three  functionaries,  one  in  the  Congo 
State,  one  in  Brussels  to  attend  to  administrative  duties,  and  a 
third  on  lea\e,  ready  to  relieve  either  of  the  others. 

A  commencement  has  been  made  at  Brussels  in  the  issue  of  the 
projected  Congo  State  Loan  of  ryo.ooopoofr.,  with  100,000  obligations 
of  ioofr.  each.  The  Societe  Generale  and  the  Banque  de  Paris  et  des 
Pays-Bas,  the  Banque  de  Bruxelles,  and  the  firms  of  Phillopson,  Cas- 
sel,  and  Balser  will  receive  subscriptions. 


10 


GERMAN  ENTERPRISE. 


HERMAN  ENTERPRISE. 

Herr  Ludwig  Conradt,  the  representative  of  the  Deutsch- 
West-  Afrikanisch  Compagnie,  presents  some  interesting  details  of  the 
trade  in  the  German  Protectorates  of  Namaqualand  and  Damaraland. 
Owing  to  the  presence  of  German  missionaries  in  these  two  Protecto¬ 
rates  for  about  half  a  century,  the  natives  have  gradually  accustomed 
themselves  to  wear  European  clothing  The  percentage  of  those  thus, 
dressed  increases  from  year  to  year.  Fc  rmerly,  mostly  ready-made 
clothes  were  imported,  but  now  the  natives  have  begun  to  buy  the 
stuff’s  and  cut  their  own  attire  for  themselves,  Of  these  stuff's 
various  kinds  and  qualities  are  imported.  It  is  necessary  to  keep 
as  much  as  possible  to  the  same  classes  of  goods.  Herr 
Halbig,  a  merchant  in  Otzymbique,  purchased  a  large  quantity  of  these 
goods  in  Germany,  and  disposed  of  them  with  rapidity  and  at  prices 
considerably  lowerthan  thosequoted  in  Cape  Town.  Damarasand  Nam- 
aquas  are  no  longer  childish  savages  who  barter  for  gay  toys  and  arti¬ 
cles  they  cannot  utilize.  On  the  contrary,  they  pay  special  attention 
to  the  quality  and  durability  of  their  purchases,  and  when  they  have 
the  choice,  prefer  expensive  heavy  goods  to  cheap  articles. 

Dr.  Peters  gives  an  account  of  a  journey  he  was  then  making 
to  the  bay  of  Tanga,  on  the  northern  limit  of  the  German  Protecto¬ 
rate.  He  describes  the  region  around  the  bay  as  of  marvelous' beau¬ 
ty  and  fertility,  with  extensive  plantations  of  coco  palms,  and  fields  of 
maize  and  other  grain  extending  far  into  the  distance,  The  country 
is  everywhere  green  and  rich,  covered  with  plantations  and  villages, 
and  produces  the  finest  tobacco.  Landing  at  Pangani,  and  proceed¬ 
ing  over  the  hills,  he  found  plantation  on  plantation  right  and  left, 
with  sugar  factories  here  and  there,  some  of  which  are  already  making 
use  of  steam.  Dr.  Peters  went  to  the  plantation  of  Deutschenhof, 
which  has  been  laid  out  by  the  Planters'  Association,  about  two  hours 
north  of  the  Ruvu  river.  This  station  was  founded  in  the  beginning 
of  September,  and  already  more  than  50,000  tobacco  plants  have  been 
laid  down,  and  seem  to  be  flourishing.  Deutschenhof  lies  in  one  of 
the  richest  and  most  beautiful  landscapes  on  the  LIsambora  plateau. 
Dr.  Peters  states  that  he  has  purchased  the  right  to  all  the  stretch  of 
country  as  far  south  as  Saadani,  a  distance  of  100  miles.  After  a  visit 
to  Saadani,  Dr.  Peters  proceeded  northwards  to  Witu,  the  German 
posession  which  lies  north  of  the  strip  of  coast  just  leased  by  the 
English  company  from  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar.  Monda  bay,  here, 
behind  Monda  and  other  islands,  he  describes  as  one  of  the  best  har¬ 
bors  of  the  world. 


RAILROADS,  CABLED  ARB  MIRES. 


IT 


The  German  East  African  Plantation  Company  have  increased 
their  capital  by  250,000  marks,  their  entire  capital  now  amounting  to 
1,500,000  marks.  At  one  of  its  plantations,  Sewa,  in  Usam- 
bora,  about  20  miles  from  the  coast,  100  natives  are  at  work,  besides 
200  of  the  people  from  the  surrounding  villages.  At  M’Busine,  in 
Useguha,  about  40  miles  from  the  coast,  the  position  is  equally  favor¬ 
able.  Here  about  150  contract  natives  are  at  work,  with  a  like 
number  who  have  come  in  from  the  neighborhood.  The  country 
lies  pretty  high,  and  besides  tobacc  >,  coffee  has  been  planted  at 
several  points. 

A  company  has  been  formed  in  Berlin,  which  proposes  to  fit  out 
an  expedition  to  the  gold  fields  of  South-west  Africa  for  the  purpose 
of  undertaking  a  scientific  research.  Efforts  will  be  made  to  ascertain 
what  economical  value  the  newly  discovered  gold  fields  possess,  and, 
supposing  they  possess  any,  to  secure  the  mining  rights  upon  the 
most  favorable  spot.  The  leadership  of  this  expedition  will  be  en¬ 
trusted  to  recognized  authority  upon  geologicaland  geographical  mat¬ 
ters,  a  former  lecturer  at  a  German  mining  academy,  who  will  be  as¬ 
sisted  by  two  mining  engineers  of  practical  experience.  This  organi¬ 
zation  has  adopted  the  title  of  the  “German  African  Mines  Compa¬ 
ny’’  It  will  direct  its  attention  not  only  to  the  probable  existence  of 
gold  in  South-west  Africa,  but  also  to  that  of  gems.  It  is  believed  that 
as  South-west  Africa  shows  a  similar  ground  formation  to  the  special 
diamond  country,  West  Griqu  iland,  diamonds  will  also  be  found  there. 

RAILROADS,  '  ABLES  AND  MINES. 

The  route  of  the  railroad  from  the  navigable  waters  of  the  Low¬ 
er  Congo  to  Stanley  Pool,  past  the  Livingstone  Falls,  has  been 
surveyed  and  foinl  practicable. 

Information  concerning  the  progress  of  the  railway — the  first  on 
the  West  Coast  of  Africa  south  of  that  built  by  the  French  in  Sene- 
gambia— which  the  Portuguese  are  constructing  in  the  province  of 
Angola,  is  communicated  by  Mr.  R.  S.  Newton,  British  Consul  at  Lo- 
anda  The  Royal  Trans-African  Railway  from  Loanda  to  Ambaca, 
a  distance  of  some  250  miles,  is  in  course  of  construction  and  sixty 
kilometers  of  earthworks  are  completed.  About  14,000  tons  of  mate¬ 
rial,  including  several  locomotives  and  carriages,  have  arrived,  and 
the  work  goes  on  with  activity,  although  the  contractor,  Mr.  John 
Burnay,  of  Lisbon,  has  great  difficulties  to  contend  with,  both  in  the 
way  of  labor  and  the  heat  and  unhealthiness  of  the  climate.  Nearly 
all  the  material  used  is  from  Belgium.  The  Government  guarantee  6 


12 


RAILROADS,  CABLES  AND  MINES. 


per  cent.,  equal  to  1,200  milreis  per  kilometre  on  the  estimated  cost 
of  construction.” 

The  Conference  of  the  Delegates  of  Cape  Colony,  Natal  and  the 
Orange  Free  State,  which  met  at  Cape  Town  under  the  presidency  of 
Sir  Gordon  Sprigg,  to  consider  the  question  of  intercolonial  railways 
and  customs  union,  has  agreed  to  a  report  recommending  the  estab¬ 
lishment  of  a  South  African  Customs  Union  upon  defined  lines,  and 
also  the  extension  of  the  colonial  railways  through  the  Free  State  to 
the  Vaal  river,  the  extension  to  be  undertaken  by  the  Free  State 
government.  According  to  this  programme,  the  Cape  Colony  Rail¬ 
way  system  will  be  pressed  from  Colesberg,  a  point  near  the 
Orange  river,  about  550  miles  northeast  from  Cape  Town,  and  355 
miles  north  from  Port  Elizabeth  to  Bloemfontein,  the  Orange  Free 
State,  thence  northeast  to  a  point  near  the  northern  border  of  the 
Free  State,  where  a  junction  is  to  be  formed  with  the  Natal  line  to  be 
extended  from  Landismith,  its  present  terminus.  To  effect  this  junc¬ 
tion  of  the  two  colonial  branches,  as  above  indicated,  will  require  the 
construction  of  about  40a  miles  of  railway  which,  for  the  greater  part, 
will  penetrate  a  country  famous  for  its  agricultural  capabilities  and  its 
prodigious  mineral  wealth. 

The  commercial  public  is  aroused  by  the  opening  of  a 
railroad  from  Lorenzo  Marques,  on  Delagoa  Bay,  into  the  interior,  to¬ 
ward  the  Transvaal.  The  section  opened  is  54  miles  long,  and  cross¬ 
es  the  bonders  of  the  Transvaal  Republic.  Thence  the  distance  is 
somewhat  over  200  miles  to  Pretoria.  The  importance  of  this  enter¬ 
prise  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  Delagoa  Bay  is  the  only  harbor  for 
large  ships  between  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  and  Mozambique,  a  range 
of  2.000  miles.  It  is  not  only  the  nearest  port  to  the  gold-bear¬ 
ing  region  of  Africa,  but  the  coal  deposits  are  such  as  would  make  it  a 
most  important  coaling  station.  Admiral  De  Horsey  writes  to  The 
London  Times  that  this  port  must  be  the  naval  key  to  that  portion  of 
the  Indian  Ocean,  as  well  as  the  commercial  emporium  of  southeast¬ 
ern  Africa. 

The  !‘Third  Ordinary  General  Meeting”  of  the  West  African  Tele¬ 
graph  Company, Limited,  was  held  in  London,  July  13th.  Major  General 
Sir  F.  J.  Goldsmid,  C.  B.,  who  presided,  said  that  the  traffic  had  not 
increased  to  the  extent  they  would  have  been  glad  to  see,  but  in  oth¬ 
er  respects  he  thought  they  would  find  that  the  working  had  been 
satisfactory,  and  the  whole  line  was  at  that  moment  in  good  order  and 
condition.  The  P'rench  subsidy  had  been  paid  to  the  end  of  1887, 
and  the  Portuguese  guarantee  had  been  paid  to  the  end  of  Septem¬ 
ber  last.  With  reference  to  the  traffic,  statistics  for  the  complete  line 


TRADE. 


IS 


were  available  from  September,  1886,  but  it  would  hardly  be  fair  to 
compare  the  first  three  months’  working  of  the  complete  line  with  the 
corresponding  period  in  1887.  Taking,  however,  the  first  five  months 
of  the  present  year,  and  comparing  the  number  of  words  with  that  of 
the  corresponding  period  of  1887,  after  making  due  allowance  for  the 
loss  resulting  from  the  interruption  on  the  St.  Thome-Loanda  sec¬ 
tion.  they  might  fairly  consider  that  the  volume  of  traffic  had  in¬ 
creased  at  least  15  percent  For  the  present  they  must  re’y 
on  their  guarantee  and  subsidy,  hoping  for  better  results  in  the 
future  when  the  system  was  connected  with  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ; 
and  Mr.  Matthew  Gray,  of  the  India-rubber,  Gutta-percha,  &  Tele¬ 
graph  Works  Co.,  had  sent  him  a  letter  stating  that  that  Company 
was  working  earnestly  t  awards  completing  the  section  from  Loanda 
to  the  Cape,  and  that  they  had  every  hope  that  the  connection  would 
be  made  by  the  end  of  ihe  year.  He  concluded  by  moving  "he  adop¬ 
tion  of  the  report  and  the  payment  of  33  a  share  ;  which  motion  was 
unanimously  adopted. 

From  September  1,  1882,  to  Decem'o  r  31,  1887,  the  comparative 
yearly  exports  of  diamonds  from  South  Africa  were  as  follows  : 


Carats. 

Declared  Value. 

Ave.  price  per 

t 

£ 

s 

d 

1887  .. 

■  3.599.036 

.  4.251.837  . 

23 

7% 

1886  .. 

•  -•  3M35432 

.  3.507.210  . 

7  7 

4 

1885. . . 

.  .  .  2,440,788 

.  ..  2,492,755  .. 

20 

5 

1884  . . 

2,263,686 

.  2,807,288 

.  24 

18S3  .. 

•  -•  2,413,953 

.  2,742,521  .. 

7  7 

8  % 

Total..  13,852,897  . 15,801,613 

Showing  the  very  considerable  total  of  _£[  5,801,613,  which  does 
not  seem  to  have  been  considered  in  comparative  tables  of  exports 
and  imports,  though  it  has  as  much  influence  on  trade  by  increasing 
the  purchasing  power  of  South  Africa,  as  if,  instead  of  articles  of  lux¬ 
ury,  they  were  ingots  of  copper  or  lumps  of  pig-iron.  It  is  estimated 
that  since  the  beginning  of  the  mines,  in  1871-2,  not  less  than  forty 
millions  sterling  value  of  gems  has  been  exported — all  in  the  first  in¬ 
stance  to  England. 

TRADE. 

The  year  1887  has  witnessed  about  the  same  depression  in  trade 
which  existed  in  1886.  The  average  prices  in  Europe  of  leading  Afri¬ 
can  products  have  stood  even  lower  than  during  the  previous  twelve 


14 


TRADE. 


months,  while  the  prolonged  continuance  of^low^prices’  in  Africa  has 
apparently  disheartened  the  native  producer  and  tended  to  diminish 
the  quantity  as  well  as  the  value  of  his  offerings. 

At  the  “Eighth  Ordinary  General  Meeting”  of  the  Royal  Niger 
Company,  held  at  the  offices  in  London,  July  31,  Lord  Abedare, 
Governor  of  the  Company,  presided  and  said: — 

“  The  year  which  has  passed  since  we  last  met  has  been,  as  you 
may  well  imagine,  not  only  a  busy,  but  an  anxious  one.  It  is  true 
that  the  anticipations  I  then  ventured  to  express  of  the  speedy  restor¬ 
ation  of  our  finances  to  a  sound  basis  have  been  thoroughly  realized. 
The  debt  then  remaining  has  been  wiped  away,  and  although  the  bal¬ 
ance-sheet  now  submitted  to  you  for  the  year  I887  does  not  justify  any 
dividend  for  that  year  ;  still  the  fact  that  we  venture,  in  full  confidence  of 
the  prudence  of  such  a  measure,  to  propose  a  dividend  at  the  rate  of 
5  per  cent,  per  annum  on  account  of  the  first  half  of  1888,  is  a  proof 
that  we  look  forward  to  the  future  more  hopefully  than  we  have  done 
for  some  years  past.” 

Governor  Abedare  proposed,  and  Mr.  John  Edgar  seconded,  a 
resolution  for  an  interim  dividend,  at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  an¬ 
num,  for  the  half  year  ended  June  30th  last ;  and  it  was  unanimously 
agreed  to. 

British  trade  with  Africa  is  estimated  to  be  worth  about  $125,000,000 
annually,  while  that  of  France  is  about  $100,000,000.  The  commerce 
of  Germany  with  the  great  Continent  is  as  yet  insignificant.  The  total 
value  of  the  exports  and  imports  of  Africa  is  estimated  at  $375,000,000 
annually.  An  enormous  sum  truly.  What  a  field  for  commercial 
enterprise  the  African  Continent  is  ! 

A  society  has  been  formed  in  Liverpool  to  develop  the  produc¬ 
tion  of  indigo  on  the  West  Coast  of  Africa.  It  has  for  years  been 
known  that  a  superior  quality  of  the  plant  which  produces  indigo  ex¬ 
ists  on  the  West  Coast,  and  that  the  product  of  this  plant,  which 
grows  without  cultivation,  is  even  better  than  that  which  is  raised  in 
India  with  great  care  Mr,  E.  W.  Parsons,  an  attache  of  the  West 
African  Telegraph  Company,  has  sent  to  the  Royal  Geographical  So¬ 
ciety  of  London  an  account  of  a  new  species  of  caoutchouc.  Mr.  Par¬ 
sons  thinks  it  as  “  pure  as  possible.”  Like  all  the  other  African 
caoutchoucs,  there  are  two  qualities,  one  an  extract  from  the  plant, 
the  other  from  its  root.  Formerly  caravans  took  eight  or  nine 
months  to  return  to  the  coast  with  their  loads  of  the  ordinary  caout¬ 
chouc  gathered  from  forest  trees;  now  they  come  back  in  about  three 
months,  bringing  an  abundance  of  this  superior  article,  which  com¬ 
mands  a  high  price  in  the  coast  market.  Considerable  attention  has 


THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 


15 


been  paid  lately  to  the  export  trade  from  Namaqualand  in  gum  arab- 
ic,  which  has  proved,  highly  profitable.  Herr  Raedecker,  of  Otzym- 
binque,  has  agreed  to  supply  10,000  lbs.  of  this  article  every  year. 
Narakernels,  the  fruit  of  the  nara,  are  also  exported  in  large  quantites 
aud  converted  in  Cape  Town  into  confectionery,  which  forms  an  ac- 
aceptable  substitute  for  sweet  almonds 

Arrangements  have  been  made  for  another  line  of  steamers  from 
Liverpool  and  Continental  p^rts  to  the  West  Coast  by  some  of  the 
leading-  houses  in  the  trade.  A  second  line  is  to  start  from  Bordeaux, 
calling  at  Algiers,  Morocco,  Senegal,  Bulama,  Sierra  Leone.  Lagos  and 
all  parts  of  the  West  South-west  Coast  of  Africa.  It  is  stated  that 
the  carrying  trade  has  given  evidence  of  considerable  prosperity,  and 
that  one  of  the  steamship  comp  inies  was  able  last  year  not  only  to  de¬ 
clare  a  dividend,  but  also  to  return  to  its  shareholders  15  per  cent,  of 
capital  out  of  profits. 

THE  LIQUOR  TRAFFIC. 

This  subject  is  recurring  continually,  and  it  ought  to,  until  the  ter¬ 
rible  curse  which  civilized  nations  are  permitting  to  come  upon  Africa 
is  checked.  Let  united  action  be  taken  to  induce  Christian  govern¬ 
ments  to  rise  in  their  might  and  put  a  stop  to  a  traffic  which  is  proving 
more  detrimental  to  Africa  than  even  the  slave-trade.  There  are  no 
specially  new  facts  to  be  presented.  Probably  no  Christian  na- 
tiorj.  is  free  from  blame  in  this  matter.  Although  we  may  properly 
claim  that  at  the  Berlin  Congress  the  representatives  of  the  United 
States,  Great  Britain,  Belgium,  and  Italy  took  a  decided  stand  against 
the  admission  of  intoxicating  liquors  into  the  Congo  Free  State,  and 
were  defeated,  largely  through  the  influence  of  Germany  and  the 
Netherlands,  yet  we  are  constrained  to  admit  that  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  suffer  their  citizens  to  engage  in  this  desolating 
traffic.  The  King  of  the  Belgians,  who  is  also  sovereign  of  the  Congo 
Free  State,  has  placed  stringent  restrictions  on  the  sale  of  alcoholic 
liquors  on  the  upper  Congo,  since  under  the  terms  of  the  Berlin  Con¬ 
ference  treaty  he  cannot  altogether  prohibit  the  importation,.  The 
Royal  Niger  Company,  having  control  of  trade  upon  the  Niger,  has  al¬ 
so  imposed  heavy  duties  upon  foreign  liquors  in  the  hope  of  restrict¬ 
ing  their  use ;  and  this  solely  for  commercial  reasons,  because  it  is 
found  that  the  industries  on  which  commerce  can  live  are  being  de¬ 
stroyed  by  the  intemperance  of  the  natives. 

A  debate  took  place  in  the  British  Parliament,  April  24,  on  the 
question  of  the  liquor  traffic  and  native  races.  The  debate  was  long 
and  was  participated  in  by  prominent  men  like  Sue  J.  Kennaway,  Sir 


THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 


16 


G.  Baden- Powell,  Baiou  H.  De  Worms,  Under  Secretary  of  the  Colo¬ 
onies,  Sir  Wilfred  Lawson,  Sir  G.  Campbell,  Mr.  Bryce,  Mr.  McArthur, 
Sir  Richard  Temple,  and  others.  The  disastrous  results  of  the 
liquor  traffic  with  native  races  were  universally  admitted  and  deplored. 
The  necessity  for  prompt  and  energetic  action,  if  the  natives  are  to 
be  saved  from  extermination,  was  clearly  set  forth.  Sir  J.  Kennaway 
urged  that  measures  be  taken  to  call  a  convention  for  united  action 
on  the  part  of  the  Powers  of  Europe  In  the  course  of  the  debate  a 
statement  was  made  by  the  Under  Secretary  of  the  Colonies,  that  the 
United  States  government  had  not  responded  favorably  to  proposals 
for  an  international  agreement  on  this  subject,  and  that  Secretary 
Bayard  had  declared,  in  a  letter  of  April,  1885,  that  while  our  govern¬ 
ment  recognized  the  moral  force  and  general  pr  jpriety  of  the  proposed 
regu'ations,  “the  government  of  the  LInited  States  does  m  t  feel  en¬ 
tirely  prepared  to  join  in  the  international  understanding  proposed.’* 
This  debate  in  the  British  House  of  Commons  indicates  a  purpose  to 
take  hold  with  vigor  of  this  great  problem,  and  the  fallowing  motion 
received  the  assent  of  the  government  and  was  agreed  to  without  a  di¬ 
vision  :  “That  this  H  -use,  having  regard  to  the  disastrous  physi¬ 
cal  and  moral  effects  of  the  liquor  traffic  among  uncivilized  races,  as 
well  as  the  injury  it  inflicts  on  legitimate  commerce,  will  cordially 
support  the  Imperial  and  Colonial  governments  in  endeavors  to  sup¬ 
press  the  traffic  in  all  the  native  territories  and  gi  vernmer.ts  unde- 
their  influence  and  control."  * 

THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

A  meeting  was  held  in  London,  August  1,  by  the  British  and  For- 
e  gn  Anti-Slavery  Society,  to  listen  to  an  address  from  Cardinal  Lav- 
igerie,  the  archbishop  of  Algiers  and  Carthage,  on  the  subject  of  Af¬ 
rican  slavery.  The  meeting  was  presided  over  by  Lord  Granville,  and 
eminent  men  were  present  from  the  Church  of  England,  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church,  and  all  other  Christian  bodies.  The  chairman  well 
remarked  that  the  presence  on  the  same  platform  of  most  distinguish¬ 
ed  persons,  ministers  and  laymen  of  all  denominations,  accentuated 
the  fact  that,  though  in  many  things  they  differed,  there  was  cordial 
agreement  among  them  in  reference  to  slavery  and  the  slave-trade. 
Cardinal  Lavigerie,  made  a  striking  address,  in  which  he  affirmed 
that  Commander  Cameron  understated  the  case  when  he  said 
that  half  a  million  of  slaves,  at  least,  are  sold  every  year  in  the  interi¬ 
or  of  Africa  Within  ten  years  whole  provinces  have  been  absolutely 
depopulated  by  the  massacres  of  the  slave-hunters.  Things  have 
come  to  such  a  pass  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Great  Lakes  that  every  wo- 


LITERATURE. 


17 


man  or  child  who  strays  ten  rods  away  from  the  village  has  no  cer¬ 
tainty  of  ever  returning  to  it.  He  depicted  in  a  most  striking  way 
the  terrible  sufferings  which  the  slave  captives  have  to  endure  on 
their  way  to  the  markets.  Cardinal  Manning,  Bishop  Smythies,  of 
the  Universities  Mission,  Rev.  Horaee  Waller,  and  Commander  Cam¬ 
eron  followed  the  address  of  the  cardinal  with  stirring  words,  and  a 
resolution  was  passed  calling  upon  the  nations  of  Europe  to  take 
needful  steps  to  secure  the  suppression  of  Arab  marauders  throughout 
all  territories  over  which  they  have  any  control. 

An  International  Conference  is  announced  to  be  held  in  Belgium 
to  devise  measures  for  the  suppression  of  the  African  slave  trade. 
The  Conference  is  mainly  the  outcome  of  the  efforts  of  Cardinal  Lav- 
igerie.  Pope  Leo,  who  is  deeply  interested  in  the  movement,  has  signi¬ 
fied  his  willingness  to  accept  the  honorary  Presidency  of  the  Confer¬ 
ence.  It  now  seems  quite  certain  that  a  united  effort  will  be  made 
by  the  leading  European  Powers  towards  the  suppression  of  the  Afri¬ 
can  slave-trade.  England,  France,  Germany  and  Portugal  have  sig¬ 
nified  their  willingness  to  co-operate  in  the  good  work. 

The  discussion  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  East  Central  Africa  has 
served  a  good  purpose  in  drawing  public  attention  to  the  serious 
dangers  to  which,  by  reason  of  recent  events  at  Zanzibar  and  on  the 
Zambesi,  British  commerce  and  missionary  enterprise  are  now  expssed, 
and  also  in  eliciting  from  the  Government  a  declaration  of  its  inten¬ 
tion  to  protect  these  interests.  The  civilizing  and  Christianizing  of 
this  vast  tract  of  country  must,  as  the  Prime  Minister  intimated,  be 
mainly  the  work  of  individuals  and  private  organizations;  but  these 
agencies  have  a  right  to  demand  that  the  government  shall  render  them , 
all  possible  legitimate  and  peaceful  assistance  and  protection,  and  es¬ 
pecially  shall  do  all  that  honorable  statesmanship  can  do  in  suppress¬ 
ing  spirit-selling  and  slave-hunting,  the  latter  of  which  is  now  display¬ 
ing  renewed  vitality.  The  assurances  of  Lord  Salisbury  were 
satisfactory. 

LITERATURE. 

Tropical  Africa,”  by  Professor  Henry  Drummond,  will  great¬ 
ly  interest  and  instruct  all  classes  of  readers.  It  is  not  strictly  a  book 
of  travels  or  of  science,  but  in  a  charming  style  Profeessor  Drum¬ 
mond  details  briefly  what  he  saw  in  his  excursion  up  the  Zambesi, 
crossing  lake  Nyasa  to  the  high  plateau  between  Nyasa  and  Tangan¬ 
yika.  Professor  Drummond  evidently  believes  in  the  African  and 
in  the  possibilities  of  a  development  within  the  bounds  of  his  own 
Continent.  This  is  altogether  a  charming  book;  and  its  six  colored 


18 


LITERATURE. 


maps  of  Central  and  Southern  Africa  are  worth  more  than  the  price 
of  the  volume. 

“Emin  Pasha  in  Central  Africa,”  is  one  of  the  most  fascina¬ 
ting  as  well  as  valuable  books  relating  to  Africa;  and  a  remarkable 
fact  connected  with  it  is,  that  though  the  author,  so  far  as  known,  is 
not  only  alive  but  in  active  service,  he  is  not  even  aware  of  the  exist¬ 
ence  of  the  volume.  In  the  centre  of  his  Equatorial  Province  Emin 
Pasha  has  been  practically  shut  away  from  the  world,  and  for  years 
at  a  time  he  has  received  no  communication  from  without.  But  he 
has  nevertheless  been  able  to  send  to  his  special  friends,  Professors 
Schweinfurth  and  Ratzel,  and  Doctors  Felkin  and  Hartlaub,  letters 
which  have  reached  them,  and  which  they  feel  to  be  of  such  value  to 
the  world  that  they  have  arranged  and  presented  them  in  this  comely 
volume  of  547  pages.  The  journals  cover  the  period  from  1877  to 
April,  1887,  although  there  are  many  gaps.  The  contributions  to  nat¬ 
ural  history  contained  in  this  volume  would  be  sufficient  to  give  fame 
to  any  man,  but  when  we  add  to  this  the  service  of  Emin  Pasha  as  a 
military  leader  and  governor,  and  his  protracted  and  energetic  efforts 
for  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade  and  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  the  people  of  the  Equatorial  Province,  we  are  constrain¬ 
ed  to  admit  that  he  is  one  of  the  most  wonderful  men  of  our  times. 

The  story  of  his  life  is  briefly  given,  from  which  we  learn  that  his 
real  name  is  Eduard  Schnitzer,  the  son  of  Protestants,  born  in  Op- 
peln,  Silesia,  in  1840.  After  obtaining  a  medical  education  at  Berlin, 
he  sought  practice  in  Turkey,  traveling  through  Armenia,  Syria  and 
Arabia.  He  entered  the  Egytian  service  in  1876  and  became  chief 
medical  officer  of  the  Equatorial  Province  under  General  Gordon. 
It  was  there  that  he  assumed  the  name  of  Emin  Effendi,  for  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  removing  all  obstacles  to  his  intercourse  with  the  natives,  at 
the  same  time  assuring  his  friends  that  “  an  honest  German  is  disguis¬ 
ed  behind  the  Turkish  name.  Don’t  be  afraid;  I  have  only  adopted 
the  name,  I  have  not  become  a  Turk.”  Aside  from  his  extraordinary 
gifts  in  scientific  studies.  Dr.  Emin  has  remarkable  ability  in  the  ac¬ 
quisition  of  languages,  so  that  he  not  only  speaks  the  principal  lan¬ 
guages  of  Europe,  but  has  mastered  several  Slavonic  tongues  as  well 
as  the  Turkish  and  Arabic.  His  acquisitions  in  the  line  of  language 
in  Central  Africa  must  be  a  matter  of  conjecture. 

It  was  in  1878  that  Gordon  made  Emin  governor  of  the  Equato¬ 
rial  Province,  and  the  new  ruler  immediately  undertook  to  redeem 
the  district  from  the  domination  of  slave-traders.  With  great  energy 
and  patience  he  wrought  until  he  had  trained  a  native  soldiery 
and  had  ban  shed  the  slave-traders  from  the  Province;  and  in  1882 


LITERATURE. 


19 


he  was  able  to  show  a  net  profit  through  his  administration  of  $40,000 
in  place  of  the  preceeding  annual  deficit  of  not  far  from  $160,000.  Re¬ 
garding  his  administrative  duties  as  of  prime  importance,  he  never 
suffered  h  is  intense  love  for  scientific  investigations  to  interfere  with 
his  work  as  a  ruler.  While  throughout  these  letters  to  his  friends 
there  is  a  singular  mingling  of  records  of  his  administration  with  ac¬ 
counts  of  the  wonderful  flora  and  fauna  of  the  Province,  it  is  clear 
that  his  heart  is  first  of  all  fixed  upon  securing  good  government  for 
the  people  over  whom  he  is  placed.  Dr.  Hartlaub,  referring  to  the 
zoological  collections  and  observations  which  Emin  Pasha  has  made, 
declares  that  they  are  astonishing  in  the  highest  degree.  But  they 
cannot  be  more’astonishing  than  are  the  results  of  his  administration 
among  the  people.  To  be  sure,  in  the  troubles  that  ensued  after  1882, 
and  in  the  enlargement  of  his  domain,  the  slave-trade  was  again  re¬ 
vived  and  Dr.  Emin,  having  no  help  from  without  found  it  impossible  to 
restrain  the  rapacity  and  lust  of  the  slave  dealers  in  the  new  districts 
committed  to  his  care.  But  he  has  patiently  wrought  at  his  work, 
dealing  with  the  people  in  wise  and  just  ways,  and  has  won  their  re¬ 
gard  to  a  surprising  degree  And  now  this  wise  and  brave  man  stands 
at  his  post,  unwilling  to  leave  it  even  were  some  broad  way  opened 
for  him  to  flee  from  a  trust  which  he  would  gladly  lay  down  if  a  stern 
conviction  of  duty  would  allow  him  so  to  do. 

“German  Work  in  Africa  ”  is  a  book  of  interest  concerning 
the  “Dark  Continent.”  ft  is  by  Goyau.x,  the  well-known  German  traveler 
and-is  far  superior  to  the  ordinary  literature  on  that  subject.  It  is 
mostly  the  result  of  years  of  observation  and  practical  experience  of 
the  author,  and  therein  has  special  worth.  It  is  written  largely  as  an 
aid  to  the  present  efforts  of  the  Germans  in  the  line  of  African 
colonization.  One  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  climate  of  German 
Africa,  and  in  this  the  author  has  no  very  satifactory  experience.  He 
says  :  “  German  Africa  will  never  be  the  seat  of  large  emigration  ;  on¬ 
ly  individual  Germans  who  go  there  under  the  most  favorable  condi¬ 
tions,  as  merchants,  overseers  of  workmen,  or  government  officials, 
will  be  able  to  remain  long.”  The  third  section  is  devoted  to  the  sub¬ 
ject  of  plantations  in  tropical  Africa.  Here  we  learn  in  full  the  nec¬ 
essary  modus  operandi  of  clearing  the  ground  and  preparing  the  soil 
with  the  labor  there  at  command,  and  establishing  experimental  agri¬ 
cultural  colonies.  The  chapter  on  the  education  of  the  natives  is  val¬ 
uable,  as  it  is  the  practical  experience  of  the  author  of  several  years  of 
labor  on  a  large  plantation.  Suffice  it  to  say  on  this  point  that  he 
considers  the  Negro  capable  of  being  educated,  but  the  instruction 


20 


LITERATURE. 


must  be  wholly  practical — must  be  virtually  object-teaching  on  a  large 
scale.  The  African  is  imitative,  but  his  ambition  must  be  stimulated, 
and  much  patience  is  necessary  to  success. 

“The  Arab  in  Central  Africa,”  is  an  interesting  pamphlet 
by  James  Stevenson,  Esq  ,  who  has  heretofore  written  in  reference  to 
philanthropic  and  commercial  enterprises  in  Central  Africa.  He 
brings  together  many  facts  which  show  that  within  the  last  five  years 
the  ravages  of  the  Arabs  have  increased  in  area  and  intensity,  so  that  a 
territory  west  of  the  great  Lakes,  one  thousand  miles  by  four  hund¬ 
red,  has  been  devastated.  It  is  a  sorrowful  story  of  the  growth  of  the 
slave  trade,  and  the  statements  here  brought  together  give  force  to 
the  representations  made  to  the  British  government,  urging  it  to  in¬ 
terpose  in  the  defence  of  the  rights  of  commerce  in  the  interior  of  Af 
rica.  Mr.  Stevenson’s  pamphlet  is  accompanied  by  a  map  of  Africa, 
showing  the  lines  on  which  the  slave-trade  is  now  prosecuted. 

“Life  on  the  Congo,”  by  Rev.  W.  Holman  Bentley,  contains 
much  that  is  valuable  on  the  physical  characteristics  and  climate  of 
the  country,  the  home  life  and  superstitions  of  the  natives,  the  expe¬ 
rience  of  the  missionaries,  and  some  of  the  results  of  their  labors.  It 
is  not  yet  ten  years  since  the  first  missionaries  arrived  in  the  countrys 
and  yet  already  there  are  native  Christian  churches  at  Mukimbungu, 
Lukunga,  Banza,  Manteka  and  San  Salvador:  there  being  about  1,500 
converts,  whose  sincerity  is  attested  by  the  self-denial  and  consistency 
of  their  lives. 

“Dictionary  and  Grammar  of  the  Kongo  Language,”  by 
Rev.  W.  Holman  Bentley,  is  another  monument  to  missionary  enter¬ 
prise.  In  its  718  pages  it  presents  to  the  world  the  materi¬ 
als  for  understanding  an  African  language  spoken  in  a  vast  district 
bordering  on  the  Congo  river  (which  this  author  writes  Kongo.)  It 
must  prove  an  invaluable  assistance  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  com¬ 
mercial  or  missionary  enterprises  within  the  Congo  Free  State. 

There  are  now  three  periodicals  in  Europe  which  are  wholly  de¬ 
voted  to  African  news  and  comments  upon  the  various  enterprises  de¬ 
veloping  there,  while  three-fourths  of  the  space  in  another  journal  is 
given  solely  to  affairs  in  the  Congo  State.  One  of  these  periodicals 
has  a  circulation  of  six  thousand  copies.  L'  Afrique,  which  is  publish¬ 
ed  in  Geneva,  and  the  African  Times,  of  London,  have  been  in  the 
field  for  several  years,  and  now  comes  the  Afrika  Post,  issued  in 
Hamburg,  to  be  chiefly  devoted  to  Germany’s  interests  in  her  African 
possessions. 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


21 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 

Many  of  the  English  missionary  societies  laboring  in  Africa  are 
experiencing  serious  trials  in  connection  with  the  sickness  and  death 
of  several  of  their  missionaries  and  also  from  newly  awakened  hostil¬ 
ity  on  the  part  of  the  native  chieftains.  Bishop  Parker,  of  the  English 
Church  Missionary  Society,  lately  died  of  fever  at  the  southern  end 
of  Victoria  Nyanza.  Following  so  soon  upon  the  murder  of  Bishop 
Hannington,  the  death  of  his  successor  will  be  a  sad  blow  to  the  Church 
Missionary  Society.  Moreover,  all  the  stations  of  this  Society  in  East 
Africa,  as  well  as  of  the  London  Society  on  lake  Tanganyika,  have 
experienced  severe  trials  of  late  in  connection  with  the  hongo,  or 
claims  for  tribute,  made  by  the  native  chieftains.  The  Free  Church 
of  Scotland’s  mission  on  Lake  Nyasa  has  been  compelled  to  suspend 
its  missionary  operations,  and  to  attend  solely  to  self-defence  against 
the  assaults  of  Arab  slave-traders,  who  have  entered  anew  and  with 
vigor  upon  their  infamous  traffic.  The  losses  by  death  of  English 
Baptist  missionaries  on  the  Congo  have  been  so  numerous  as  to  be 
well  nigh  crushing. 

The  Societe  d?s  Missions  Evangeliques  has  sent  four  French  teach¬ 
ers  as  aids  to  the  American  Presbyterian  Mission  at  the  Gaboon.  This 
mission,  founded  in  1842,  has  now  six  stations  :  Alongo,  upon  the  is¬ 
land  of  Corisco  ;  Baraka,  or  Glars,  upon  the  equator;  Angoma,  upon 
the  Gaboon  river,  and  Kangwe,  on  the  river  Ogowe.  The  French 
teachers  have  received  a  hearty  welcome  from  the  French  authorities 
of  the  country  as  well  as  from  the  American  missionaries.  It  has  be¬ 
come  an  absolute  necessity  that  the  French  language  should  be  used 
in  the  mission  schools. 

The  missionaries  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  on 
the  Congo  further  report  of  the  revival  at  Banza  Manteke.  About 
two  hundred  have  been  baptized  and  enrolled  as  church  members. 
More  are  asking  for  baptism.  An  interesting  incident  is  given  show¬ 
ing  the  zeal  of  the  converts  in  transporting  timber  and  iron  a  distance 
of  fifty  miles  for  the  building  of  a  chapel.  Most  of  the  men  have 
made  the  journey  three,  and  some  four,  times,  bringing  loads  on 
their  heads.  To  do  this  requires  a  walk  of  three  or  four  hundred 
miles.  The  women  have  hired  carriers,  and  thus  have  done  their 
part.  The  boys,  too,  have  brought  half-loads. 

Bishop  William  Taylor,  in  his  Quadrennial  Report  to  the  Gener¬ 
al  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  says  that  he  had 
superintended  the  regular  work  in  the  Liberia  Conference  and  estab¬ 
lished  self-supporting  missions  on  the  Cavalla  river.  He  has  made 
a  beginning  in  the  Congo  region,  and  Angola  south  of  the  Congo  riv- 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


22 


er ;  in  all  36  new  stations  have  been  opened  by  him,  with  32  mission 
houses,  built  at  a  cost  of  ^20,000  and  all  are  free  from  debt.  The  sta¬ 
tions  in  Angola  are,  1.  St.  Paul  de  Loando,  with  a  self-supporting 
school.  2.  Dondo,  240  miles  distant  from  Loanda,  with  a  self- 
supporting  school  also.  3.  Nhanguepepo,  51  miles  farther  inland, 
a  receiving-station  where  missionaries  can  tarry  and  learn  lan¬ 
guages.  4.  Pungo  Andongo  is  39  miles  farther  on  a  moun¬ 
tain  elevation.  5.  Malange  is  60  miles  further  along  the  same  path. 
The  objective  point  of  this  line  of  stations  is  the  Tus’nilange  country, 
some  1,200  miles  from  the  coast.  BishopTaylor  has  a  steam  yacht  in 
process  of  transportation  around  Stanley  Falls,  for  use  on  the  Upper 
Congo  and  Kasai. 

The  Affican  Methodist  E.  Church  has  sent  a  missionary  and 
his  wife  to  Sierra  Leone,  and  others  are  to  follow,  as  will  appear  from 
the  following  extract  from  the  A.  M.  E  Church  Review  for  October: — 
“The  African  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  a  Church  in  many  re¬ 
spects  especially  litted  for  the  work,  is  becoming  aroused  as  to  its  du¬ 
ties  and  possibilities  in  Africa.  It  would  be  putting  this  Church  in  a  false 
light  to  say  that  hitherto  it  has  had  no  aspirations  in  this  direction. 
The  want  of  money  has  been  the  principal  reason  for  remaining  away. 
But  meanwhile  the  work  of  preparing  men  has  been  going  on  slowly 
but  steadily,  till  now  the  outlook  is  bright.  During  the  next  quad- 
rennium,  under  the  superintendency  of  our  newly  elected  Bishop 
Tanner,  and  by  the  aid  of  the  Women’s  Mite  Missionary  Society,  we 
may  expect  a  great  advance  upon  what  has  been  done  in  the  past  at 
this  post.  Dr.  Townsend, — “Missionary  Secretary,” — has  already  given 
notice  that  his  department  stands  ready  to  do  its  best  for  Africa,  and 
the  ladies  of  the  Mite  Society  are  asking  that  the  work  of  sustaining 
a  missionary  and  developing  a  school  there  be  given  them  as  their 
specific  work.” 

The  Missions-und  Heidenbote,  of  Neukirchen,  for  April,  gives  the 
following  account  of  Roman  Catholic  missions  in  Eastern  Africa : 
“Until  lately  we  had  to  do  with  two  different  Roman  Catholic 
missions.  The  one  is  the  so-called  ‘Congregation  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
and  of  the  Sacred  Heart  of  Mary,  ’  commonly  called  ‘the  Black  Fath¬ 
ers.’  They  number  some  fifty  missionaries,  working  at  seven  central 
stations,  none  of  them  very  far  removed  from  the  coast.  Besides 
missionary  work  strictly  so  calk'd,  they  also  carry  on  a  general  work 
of  culture.  Especially  are  they  devoted  to  the  care  of  the  sick.  1  he 
other  Roman  Catholic  mission  is  that  of  the  ‘African  Algerian  Mis¬ 
sionaries,’  commonly  called  ‘  the  White  Fathers.’  They  have  advanced 
their  stations  far  into  the  interior,  and  set  them  as  widely  as  possible 


CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS. 


23 


apart.  As  it  appears,  they  limit  themselves  mainly  to  proper  mission¬ 
ary  work.  We  do  not  know  the  number  of  their  laborers.  As  we 
learn  from  the  journals,  there  has  come  on  the  field  a  new  German 
mission  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  of  which  a  column  of 
thirteen  priests,  besides  artisans  and  agriculturists,  is  already  on  Af¬ 
rican  soil.  The  south  of  the  German  possessions  in  Eastern  Africa  is 
assigned  to  them,  while  the  Kilimandjaro  region  is  to  remain  under 
the  Brothers  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  Roman  Church  is  bestirring 
herself  to  lay  her  hand  upon  Eastern  Africa.” 

The  exttension  of  European  protectorates  over  various 
parts  of  Africa  is  likely  to  necessitate  many  changes  in  missionary 
operations.  The  French  at  the  Gaboon  are  not  alone  in  requiring  that 
missionary  schools  shall  lay  aside  the  English  and  use  French. 
French  Protestants  in  Basuto-land  assert  that  they  are  required 
to  use  the  English  and  not  the  French  in  all  schools  of  the  higher 
grades.  The  German  governor  at  Cameroons  placed  such  restrictions 
upon  the  English  Baptist  missions  within  the  German  territory  that 
it  was  thought  best  to  transfer  the  mission  to  the  Basle  Society.  Al¬ 
ready  the  English  Church  Missionary  Society  agents  in  the  east  Af¬ 
rican  lake  country  complain  of  difficulties  from  the  German  occupa¬ 
tion  of  territory  between  the  lakes  and  Zanzibar. 

Before  a  substantial  and  permanent  superstructure  can  be  erect¬ 
ed  there  must  be  prepared  for  it  a  solid  and  enduring  foundation. 
This  foundation-laying  is  what  the  Protestant  missionary  societies 
are  now  doing  for  Christianity  in  Africa,  at  an  annual  expense  of  about 
$[,500,000.  Missionaries  have  taught  many  useful  mechanical  trades 
to  the  natives,  such  as  masonry,  carpentering  and  tailoring,  and,  in 
addition,  they  have  imparted  no  small  amount  of  knowledge  of  read¬ 
ing,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  of  the  printing  press,  the  saw-mill  and 
the  steamboat,  and  they  have  generally  been  the  first  to  explore  ar.d 
describe  the  lakes  and  rivers  of  Africa,  and  impart  a  correct  knowl¬ 
edge  of  them  and  of  the  capabilities  of  the  adjacent  country.  They 
have  done  more.  By  grammars,  dictionaries,  vocabularies,  and 
translation  of  the  Bible,  they  have  usefully  illustrated  two  hundred 
African  languages  and  dialects.  By  their  researches  they  have  en¬ 
riched  the  sciences  of  zoology,  botany,  and  anthropology,  and  many 
other  branches  of  scientific  investigation.  They  have  guided  com¬ 
merce  and  civilization  in  theirforward  marches,  and,  while  their  work 
may  at  times  have  been  imperfect,  and  may  not  now  appear  as  decid¬ 
edly  Christian  in  all  its  aspects,  it  has  all  been  a  part  of  that  founda¬ 
tion  work  upon  which  the  grand  edifice  of  a  pure  Christianity  will  at 
length  be  reared. 


24 


LIBERIA. 


LIBERIA. 

Liberia  is  growing  more  and  more  indigenous  and  hopeful.  The 
Aborigines  are  entering  the  political  and  social  life  of  the  Republic. 
The  Kroomen,  especially,  are  engaging  largely  in  civilized  commerce 
and  in  agriculture,  and  are  becoming  apart  of  the  permanent  element 
of  the  population. 

Hon.  E  ].  Barclay,  Secretary  of  State  of  Liberia,  wrote  as  follows 
to  Charles  Hall  Adams  Esq.,  Consul  of  that  Republic  at  Boston: — 

“In  former  years  the  volume  of  trade  between  the  two  countries 
(Liberia  and  the  United  States)  was  much  larger  than  at  present. 
Our  palm  oil  and  camwood  were  the  chief  productions  exported  to 
the  United  States,  but  since  kerosene  and  cotton  seed  oil  have  come 
prominently  to  the  front  there,  the  exports  of  palm  oil  to  that  conn- 
try  have  become  almost  nil  compared  withjwhat  it  used  to  be.  In  those 
days  it  was  not  an  uncommon  thing  fora  single  ship  to  take  among 
other  products,  palm  oil  to  the  value  of  $28,000  to  $36,000.  The 
vacancy  caused  by  the  decline  of  the  trade  of  this  article  in  the  Unit¬ 
ed  States  has  not  been  filled.  Your  figures  with  reference  to  the  ex¬ 
port  of  coffee  into  the  United  States  have  been  carefully  scanned. 
We  are  entirely  in  accord  as  to  the  fact  that  our  trade  in  this  article 
might  be  increased  to  much  larger  proportions,  and  the  quantity  ex¬ 
ported  to  the  LTnited  States  might  be  multiplied  a  hundred  fold.  Yet 
when  the  facts  of  the  cultuie  being  in  its  infancy  and  of  there  being 
no  banks  nor  other  financial  institutions  to  assist  the  growers,  and  no 
machinery  except  in  a  few  instances,  are  considered,  I  am  of  the 
opinion  that  our  cultivators  have  made  a  tolerable  good  showing  in 
foreign  markets.  The  total  product  for  1887  was  about  1,200,000  lbs, 
which  were  distributed  as  follows  ;  to  Germany,  600,000  lbs.,  United 
States,  301,000  lbs  ,  Belgium,  France  and  England  149,000  lbs.,  Hol¬ 
land  1 50,00a  lbs. 

Bishop  William  Taylor  in  his  Quadrennial  Report,  states; — “The 
productive  interests  of  Liberia  are  fairly  prosperous.  Within  ten 
miles  of  Monrovia,  up  the  St.  Paul’s  river,  there  are  ten  steam  sugar 
cane  crushing  mills,  and  during  the  past  year  more  than  600.000 
pounds  of  coffee  have  been  exported  from  Monrovia.” 

Hon.  Ezekiel  E.  Smith,  Minister  Resident  and  Consul  General  of 
the  United  States  at  Liberia,  thus  addressed  the  Hon.  John  H.  B.  La- 
trobe,  under  date  of  Monrovia,  September  1st:— “As  a  member  of  a 
long  enslaved  race  I  bless  God  for  the  inception,  organization  and 
perpetuation  of  the  philanthropic  institution,  the  American  Coloniza¬ 
tion  Society.  I  shall  pray  that  the  choicest  benedictions  of  Heaven 
may  rest  upon  the  executive  and  members  and  friends.  The  most 


25 


America’s  share. 

facile  pen,  the  most  eloquent  or  gifted  orator  cannot  describe  the 
possibilities  of  Liberia  as  they  present  themselves  to  the  eye.” 

In  this  connection  may  be  stated  the  notable  fact  that,  by  act  of 
the  national  Parliament  of  Brazil  in  May,  slavery  was  abolished  through¬ 
out  the  Empire.  For  years  a  popular  feeling  in  favor  of  emancipation 
has  been  growing  ;  but  now  the  government  has  suddenly  moved  in 
the  matter  and  the  glorious  dei.d  is  done.  This  act  is  one  in  which 
philanthropists  and  Christians  may  well  rejoice,  and  it  will  have  an 
important  bearing  on  the  interests  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ  in  Brazil 
and  in  Africa.  So  strong  is  the  love  of  “  fatherland  ”  in  the  uncontam¬ 
inated  Brazilian  Negroes  that  there  is  a  steady  current  setting 
eastward  from  that  Empire,  the  “expatriates”  paying  their  own  way 
to  West  Africa. 


AMERICA  S  SHARIi, 

Is  not  America  to  share  more  largely  in  this  new  interest  for  Af¬ 
rica?  We,  who  have  millions  of  people  the  best  adapted  to  its  cli¬ 
mate — to  be  its  sailors,  pioneers,  merchants,  colonists  and  missiona¬ 
ries — are  we  to  be  scarcely  more  than  idle  spectators  of  the  general 
movement  for  it  ?  Are  our  growing  millions  of  its  children,  rising 
daily  in  intellectual  and  moral  improvement,  to  take  no  telling  part  in 
its  redemption  ?  With  the  immense  prospective  growth  of  our  Ne¬ 
gro  population  will  doubtless  come  considerable  development  of  its 
business  talent  and  wealth  :  in  spite  of  its  social  disadvantages,  can  its 
“  fatherland  ”  fail  then  to  powerfully  attract  its  enterprise,  its  religion 
and  civilization  generally  ? 

In  God’s  own  time  the  great  mystery  that  has  rested  upon  Afri¬ 
ca  and  her  people  shall  be  made  clear.  She  shall  be  favored  with  un  - 
told  blessings,  and  they  shall  live  in  the  light  of  an  ennobled  civiliza¬ 
tion  and  a  pure  Christianity. 


